Barboza has a scare, but beats Castillo on the UFC on Fox 9 preliminary card

Barboza struggled, but beat Castillo at UFC on Fox 9. Photo: Disclosure/UFC

Edson Barboza took another step towards top 10 of the UFC lightweight category on Saturday night (14). At UFC on Fox 9, in the city of Sacramento, California (United States), the fighter from Nova Friburgo overcame Danny Castillo in the judges' decision on the preliminary card of the event and obtained his third consecutive victory.

Fighting at his opponent's home, where he trains and lives in Sacramento, Barboza didn't have an easy time. He was largely dominated by his opponent in the first round, but managed to turn things around in the next two periods.

Castillo respected Barboza's striking at the beginning of the fight, avoiding exposing himself and trying takedowns. Two minutes into the action, the American landed a straight right on the Brazilian, who clearly felt the blow. Thus, Castillo managed the takedown and almost got the rear naked choke on two occasions, but Barboza defended. Working from below, Barboza created a heel hook that Castillo escaped. The first round ended with Castillo working hard on the ground and pound over a bloodied Barboza.

Despite the punishment he suffered, the Brazilian seemed more comfortable in the second round, distributing low kicks to Castillo, which clearly slowed the North American's pace. In the final minute, Barboza made a knockdown with a left cross and tried a hand triangle, defended by Castillo.

The final round followed the trend of the previous period, with Barboza throwing low kicks and defending the American's takedown attempts. Three minutes into the action, Barboza threw a beautiful round kick to Castillo's abdominal region, which he felt. The fight ended in striking, with Barboza controlling the distance and frustrating Castillo's intentions of taking the fight to the ground.

In the end, two of the judges gave Barboza the victory (29 x 28), while the third scored a draw (28 x 28), characterizing a majority decision in favor of the Brazilian. This was Barboza's seventh victory in the organization, compared to just one defeat (to Jamie Varner, in 2012). Castillo, in turn, lost for the first time since 2012, when he was knocked out by Michael Johnson. He now has a record of six wins and three losses in the UFC.

Scott Jorgensen is defeated in his flyweight debut

Former challenger Dominick Cruz for the bantamweight belt at the now-defunct WEC event, Scott Jorgensen had his first fight in the flyweight category (up to 9 kg) at UFC on Fox 56. And facing former Bellator bantamweight champion Zach Makovsky, the result wasn't what he expected.

Jorgensen began dominating the center of the Octagon, avoiding Makovsky's takedown attempts and working on combinations of strikes. Frustrated, Makovsky started to accept the striking and worked more on the stand-up fight, even landing good blows. In the final seconds of the first round, it was Jorgensen's turn to fight on the ground. He got the takedown, but didn't stabilize the position, so the round ended with Makovsky working on top.

The second period began with both fighters determined to take the fight to the ground. Both Makovsky and Jorgensen achieved dominant positions, but neither managed to work more forcefully in the ground and pound. Then, standing up, Makovsky tried a takedown from the clinch, but received a reverse and fell to the bottom. A few seconds later, the fight returned to striking, where the round ended.

The last five minutes of the fight began with the fighters accepting more striking. No more forceful blows were struck until Makovsky managed a nice takedown. However, there was no position of dominance until Makovsky reached Jorgensen's back. He attempted a rear naked choke in the final seconds, but the position was defended until the end of the fight.

All three judges scored the fight in favor of Makovsky in all three rounds (30 x 27). Thus, he achieved victory in his UFC debut, making it the 17th in his professional MMA career. Jorgensen lost for the fourth time in his last five fights – in the top category, he had been beaten by Renan Barao, Eddie Wineland e Urijah faber.

Check out the results of the UFC on Fox 9 preliminary card below:

Ryan La Flare defeated Court mcgee in the unanimous decision of the judges.

Edson Barboza defeated Danny Castillo by majority decision of the judges.

Bobby Green defeated Pat Healy via unanimous decision.

Zach Makovsky defeated Scott Jorgensen via unanimous decision.

Sam stout defeated Cody McKenzie via unanimous decision.

Abel Trujillo defeated Roger Bowling via TKO in R2.

Alp Ozkilic defeated Darren Uyenoyama via split decision.